Inspired by Pixar's "Inside Out" I decided to try my attempt at creating the emotions inside Dawn Bellwether's head. Because we only see the emotions in Riley, her mom and dad, including the end credits of other emotions inside people and animals, a lot of us start to imagine what the other emotions could look like in other favorite characters of ours. Right now, I'm starting to wonder about the emotions inside Dawn's head and what they could have been doing from her birth all the way through the end of the movie. My guess is that all of them like Riley's emotions only wanted what was best for Dawn and looked out for her since childhood, yet in a society that looks easily down on the sheep community as "easy prey" not worthy enough for the big dreams, it has been a hard struggle as all have witnessed the vicious bullying and abuse Dawn had endured from predators in her school years, unable to stop them from inflicting emotional and physical scars which left her as a broken ewe that followed her up to adulthood, and being Lionheart's secretary where she got no appreciation, thanks, or true credit for all she had done, which affected the emotions deeply with the belief that nothing could ever convince the predators and other large folks from giving Dawn a chance at making something of herself and would never stop seeing her as "easy prey" like all her bullies did, leading one of the emotions to take the IDEA of taking over the city for Dawn to prove herself of doing big things once and for all. This of course became the worst mistake for them to take, but none of them could stop Dawn the moment she found Nick and Judy at the museum. With Dawn Bellwether now in prison, all they can do for her now is try to survive these next long years ahead behind dark walls and see if it's possible to keep her safe from anything just as they did out in the world.

For Dawn's Joy, whatever kind of happiness Dawn found could have only been found if she once had a close friend or two, predator or prey, that never taunted her for the type of prey she was, and if Dawn ever had parents that truly loved her, despite either being prejudice or busy with their lives so often, only happened during special occasions and family reunions. But if only one of her parents had been a prejudice against predators for many reasons, Dawn's only joy came from the comfort of her father/mother and or siblings, unless she was the only child in the family household. And any friends she used to have gave her that special joy and comfort, which unfortunately may not have lasted forever as Dawn might have hoped. Whatever might have happened, Dawn could only move on with her life in search of any other friends like her old ones as the school years passed, which wasn't easy, yet she kept at it with her studies and search for a dream as she discovered her talents. Perhaps her dream was to someday become the mayor of Zootopia (way long before she discovered the Night Howler plants) but with no intention of domination, at least not the first time. Dawn's Joy only wanted to look on the bright side of things, no matter how hard it was to find them and when there was fantastic news for any of Dawn's success in life, Joy was at the controls, but never stopped the other emotions from doing their job when needed and knows full well herself that cheerfulness and positivity are not always what a sad person needs. So what happened to Joy the moment Dawn was arrested and taken to jail? If being in jail around large inmates who bully and abuse Dawn means there is no point in ever being happy about anything ever again, then Joy does not intervene at the controls as she may as well be reading a collection volume of books in one corner delivered to headquarters by Mind Workers titled "How to Find Joy Behind Bars" which hardly does any good for Dawn at this rate and she knows this, having witnessed everything from the Night Howler scandal, the arrest, the trial, the long sentence, and the imprisonment of watching how Dawn is being lead to her own cell the very first night in prison. If there was any hope for Dawn to ever be happy about anything again, it can only be from someone who doesn't see her as a soulless monster who deserves everything she gets, and sometimes Sadness is the key to ever feeling that same joy again.

For Dawn's Sadness, it is the essence of her sensitivity, sorrow, doubt, and gloom, often maintained from the bullies that scarred her deeply enough to give her that feeling of insecurity, depression, self loathing, worthlessness, broken dreams, and whatever personal family issues happened in the household that could have given Dawn parental issues while growing up. Something might have happened to Dawn's Sadness during the Night Howler scandal as we barely see Dawn sad all the way, unless you count the scene with her picking up all that paper work, or just call it frustration and confusion mixed up with stress, or some force in Dawn's mind was not letting Sadness near the controls, leaving her stuck and trapped somewhere. We never truly know. It was as if Sadness somehow got lost in Dawn's mind during the entire movie and we don't see her reacting to any sadness at the end due to her limited screen-time and underdevelopment. Once Dawn was incarcerated, Joy and the other emotions anxiously attempted to contact as many Mind Workers, asking them to send out more than one search party for Sadness and bring her back to headquarters since she is the only one that can help Dawn and get this IDEA out of her head, that they failed to do. By the time Sadness is found, the IDEA of taking over the city is successfully pulled from the controls. Only now Joy is not reluctant to let Sadness take control in order for Dawn to release her tears of sorrow, sympathy, guilt, and remorse, using whatever core memories Dawn used to have, turning sad in the core memory holder. Even if there is nobody around to offer her comfort or support as Dawn cries herself to sleep almost every night to let it all out, Sadness is needed more to make up for lost time, despite that a life behind bars is more than enough reason for Dawn to feel those same sad feelings that she experienced before becoming assistant mayor. It may not be positive for her, but the emotions have already witnessed the type of environment that lies in the facility from the prison staff to the larger inmates that give her all sorts of crap and don't stop Sadness anytime, unless someone makes Dawn angry, scared, or disgusted with their abuse is when Sadness stands aside until they're finished.

For Dawn's disgust, it all relies on how she may react to certain types of food, fashion, sarcasm, or any predator's attitude toward the little guys and their nasty treatment. Her mistake was taking part in helping the other emotions take part in the Night Howler conspiracy, even if it was at first only meant to give Dawn a new meaning in her life and the little guys, but at the cost of her freedom. By the time Dawn is sentenced to prison, there will be further need for Disgust to take over if anything in the cafeteria looks gross or if someone mentions an inmate being a bed wetter, a broken toilet, piles of dirty laundry, unsanitary conditions in one area or the other, picking up trash, or even being forced to wash dirty dishes during kitchen duty. Disgust still hopes to keep Dawn from being poisoned as best as possible, physically and socially.

For Dawn's Anger, all of it manifested from the savage bullying from predators, prejudice, and Lionheart's mistreatment during all those years as assistant mayor where Dawn once tried to keep it under control, only to find that sometimes the angry and sad feelings are too strong to contain, especially when it is needed. Over the years, the anger focused on the grudge, resentment, ill will, and prejudice against predators that wronged her as a lamb that her anger gave that belief that all predators were her enemies that were out to destroy and break her, unable to forget the scars that were inflicted and destroyed part of her soul. Despite having Joy still in Dawn's mind, it hardly did Dawn all that good in struggling to see the bright side of things, although it might have helped if Dawn might have slowly been discovering that not all predators were her enemies like the bullies she encountered, the longer she stayed in Zootopia. Yet to make matters worse, the emotions struggle to help Dawn stay positive as they witness how Lionheart's treatment is taking a strong toll on her with all the nightmares and hallucinations that it is slowly creating and can't seem to stop it which may have lead to devastating results on the original core memories. Sometime later, Dawn's Anger has snapped to the point in having seen enough of what she's gone through in attempting to prove that she is not "easy prey" with no success on that, and no real credit or appreciation for anything, and believes as long as Lionheart is in power, Dawn will stay trapped in the dark...until Anger reaches for the IDEA that should have been done long ago, which is overthrowing Lionheart to take over Zootopia as the new mayor. Joy, Fear, and Disgust do not approve of this the first time, despite that Joy admits being unable to help Dawn stay happy about anything any longer and later agrees to this, recalling how it was Dawn's dream back in high school to be the mayor of Zootopia, so maybe it will work for Dawn this time. Soon the other emotions go along with the plan, discussing on how to put everything into action as Dawn goes through office files, has access to the city's traffic cams, swipes whatever she needs from Lionheart's desk while his back is turned, and reads information regarding the Night Howler plants online and the effects it takes on any type of animal to become savage, blinding Dawn's vision and judgment that each predator about to be targeted is asking for it and later finds ram henchmen to create the serum and wait on her orders to decide on which predator should be darted, eventually leading up to the missing mammal case. With Officer Judy Hopps on the job of finding what happened to Mr. Otterton, the missing mammals were found in an abandoned hospital, discovered to have gone feral without a real answer, leading to Lionheart's arrest and the title of mayor finally given to Bellwether, just as the emotions planned for Dawn, and listened to Judy's speech at the conference which created an uproar if predators should be trusted ever again. What was now to become of the feral predators was a good question, now that they were hospitalized and quarantined. Do they let the mammals stay feral or have doctors do blood tests, even if it meant the discovery of the serum? Suppose one of the emotions was attempting to give Dawn second thoughts about all this after witnessing everything happening to the city from one savage attack after another that was putting other innocent civilians at risk, dividing Zootopia more than uniting everyone, which was not what they had in mind for Dawn. Even when Judy quits the force, Anger implies that there is no turning back now that Dawn is mayor and nobody suspects her of anything, so now they do all they can to look out for her...that is until Judy arrives back with Nick as they discover what has been happening to the predators all along, destroying the secret lab, and swiping the suitcase containing the evidence. By the time Dawn is called over to the museum, Anger realizes that this Night Howler scandal is the worst mistake that they should have never taken, seeing how it's destroying Dawn's mind, snapping out of the determination and exclaims that this is madness. In a real panic, the emotions try to pull the IDEA out of the controls, but it becomes stuck, leaving them unable to stop Dawn or make her feel anything as she reveals her entire plot and attempts to turn Nick feral to attack Judy, only to be foiled by the blueberry switch and the recorded confession for the police to hear behind them. The emotions come to the conclusion that all they've done for Dawn so far is turn her into a criminal and attempted murderer, even with Anger deeply regretting that IDEA in the first place which still remains stuck in the controls, unless they find Sadness out there somewhere and tell her everything that happened during her absence. With Dawn imprisoned, Anger responds only when other inmates cruelly pick on Dawn or when it looks like everyone is having a good time while they're trapped in prison for the next long years ahead.

Dawn's Fear is manifested from doubt, uncertainty, anxiety, and running away from bullies. Like the other emotions, Fear struggled to keep Dawn safe and on the lookout for danger to keep her as safe as often as possible, even when it was not enough to stop the bullies from inflicting physical or emotional damage which took its toll on how Dawn later views all predators as her enemies that can't be trusted. Fear has always been concerned about the choices Dawn makes in her life as she grows to adulthood, after seeing everything she endured during the last years of school, and believed that predators mean to harm her, hoping to forbid any future friendships with any of them, unless Fear slowly saw how aside from the bad predators, there were good ones living descent lives like prey members. Still, just in case, Fear kept a lookout for danger during Dawn's time from birth to adulthood, mainly with her job as assistant mayor. She, Anger, and Disgust are upset about the shortcomings that come ahead for Dawn as she is treated more like a slave than a respected and appreciated assistant mayor, even when Joy tries to find the bright side of the situation in finding a way to show that Dawn can still be happy and relieved about something, if not from Lionheart. But when they are unable to make things any better for Dawn or do anything to please Lionheart, Anger proposes the IDEA of getting even with Lionheart and every predator by taking over the city and make Dawn the new mayor just as she always dreamed of. Fear is unsure of such an idea that seems dangerous, but reluctantly takes the plan that everyone else agrees to. Only does Fear see the unexpected changes occurring in Zootopia and tries to give Dawn second thoughts about everything, only Anger continues to be insistent about going further until every predator is locked away for good so no prey member can ever fear them again. However, this plan doesn't seem to be helping Dawn improve any sort of positive outcomes or any of the crumbling islands that defined her positive lifestyle, especially when the emotions find that Nick and Judy are already aware of the secret plot in making predators go savage, Fear and the others try to remove the IDEA out of the control panel, but with no success. None of them can prevent Dawn from attempting to continue on with the plot as they watch in vain what their IDEA has done to her, becoming mad with power and vengeance against all predators by making everyone afraid of them. Having been foiled, Dawn's Fear attempts to make her feel scared enough about everything to run away and go into hiding once hearing that recorded confession, only to freak out by the arrival of the police who have seen and heard everything. Not only have the emotions regretfully turned Dawn into a criminal, but they imagine themselves being arrested, tried, and imprisoned, almost wishing they were in Dawn's place in jail instead of her, which is of course impossible as Dawn still needs them, no matter what she denies to herself or anyone. Even behind bars, Fear still insists on keeping Dawn safe and on the lookout for danger within the facility as she is now facing bullying and abuse by other inmates, predators mostly. Even when Sadness is found and brought back to headquarters, it will still be a long road uphill for Dawn of ever being a normal member of society again.

In conclusion, the Emotions continue to look after Dawn as they did since she was a baby, an innocent little baby who starved for love, compassion, acceptance, and appreciation, no matter what type of animal she was born as. Joy continues to read the many volumes of finding any ounce of happiness in prison, allowing Anger, Disgust, Fear, and mostly Sadness to take over the controls and will only come when needed, if that ever happens.

Inside Out © Disney and Pixar
Zootopia © Disney